The hairs on the back of my arms rose, reaching up to the ceiling. I suppressed the urge to shudder as the image of the vampire’s head came rolling into my mind. Yeah, really.
“You do have the most interesting thought patterns.”
“Annnyway…” I quickly changed the subject before I admitted that I still sometimes wondered if I had schizophrenia. “You keep ramming my royalty status down my throat. Surely, that’s why they want the Ford line gone?”
To be fair, I had also suspected that the Federation might have been behind my mother’s disappearance. Klarita liked power, I could see it in the way she carried herself. If Leon was working with her, maybe he was the man in my fuzzy memory.
“Bring your brain back to focus,” Naz said, “we know the relationship between your mother and Klarita. It’s far from deceptive, let me tell you.”
“It is? I can’t imagine them getting on.”
His gaze dipped to the floor, his eyelids hiding whatever it was that was about to show in his expression. What exactly did that mean?
“For whatever reason,” Naz said, rubbing a knuckle across the bottom of his nose, “the vampires have it in for you. This is where it gets a little tricky. Technically, we’re just bounty hunters. We’ll have to hand this over to the official paranormal investigator services.”
Clenching my hands into fists, I bit down on my tongue. What he said made perfect sense. However, how could we just sit back and not search for the leader of the Federation?
“Like I said,” Naz muttered, “this is where it gets tricky. I also said… Technically. Now, everyone knows that a bounty hunter is the perfect person to search for those who can’t be found. Klarita is very good friends with the police. We work hard for them, which means they allow us to do our job without interfering.”
“But my mother and Henrik aren’t bounties.”
Naz rose from his chair and moved to check on Tinniel, who stared ahead, his eyes unblinking. I had avoided looking at him ever since he had gone back into the memory. It was freaky to see the gorgeous man so still. He looked like a statue.
“We are the Federation of Magic. Yes, we are mainly bounty hunters. However, have you forgotten that I told you that we also hunt for the missing?”
“Well, why did you not just say that?”
Shaking my head, I stepped to the end of the table and watched the highlighted screen play out in front of me. Pedestrians went about their day, probably worrying about life, and everything it entailed.
How many paranormal creatures were out there? How many people could create magical spells or turn into animals? Or freakiest of all, walk around, even though they were dead?
“I believe,” Naz said, tapping his temple as he looked to the ceiling. “There’s roughly three paranormal creatures to every ten humans.”
If I’d had Beauty on me, I would’ve been tempted to throw her at Naz. Instead, I glared at him before my gaze was caught by something on one of the screens. A man and woman walked hand in hand, laughing and joking between them.
It wasn’t them who had caught my eye, it was the man who trailed behind them. He stalked their every step, his head ducked low and his shoulders crunched together. When he had looked up at the camera, a glow of red had emanated from his eyes.
My intrigue was piqued. Was the man a vampire about to eat his prey? Or was he working with the warlords to traffic humans for the vampires?
Casually coming over, Naz bent over the screen and studied the three figures. A sigh escaped him before his breath hitched in his throat. “That’s… Wait…”
Grabbing his phone, he quickly searched the Federation of Magic database. I had not been allowed to access the profile of the many bounties in the system. Apparently, I wasn’t quite integrated into the Federation yet. I had no idea why they didn’t trust me. Well, okay, so there was a part of me that doubted everything that was going on. Who could blame a girl for being distrustful of a group of people who claimed that my mother had led them? Considering, my mother was your typical mumsy eccentric lady, not a kick-arse warrior.
“It’s a good job I’ve learnt to tune out your incessant chatter. You’re just like a child when they repeatedly sing the same song.” Naz raised his eyebrows at me, even though he didn’t bother to look up.
“I’ll have you know,” I started, leaning closer to get a better look at his phone, “I’m a very good singer.”
Showing me his screen, he tapped a picture to enlarge it. The face of the man who was currently hunting his prey stared straight at me, his red-rimmed eyes bloodshot and puffy.
“I thought I recognised him.” Shutting it down, he pressed a button to call Zac, not bothering to go into further detail. “Check the video,” he said to me, “tell me where they are.” His nod indicated the human couple in front of us.
Reaching out tentatively, I jabbed my finger in the direction of the almost see-through floating rectangle. It grew bigger, clearly showing the place and time in the bottom right-hand corner.
“Zac, we’ve got a hit on your bounty. He’s at…” Raising his eyebrows at me, Naz gestured for me to talk.
“St Paul’s churchyard, right next to the cathedral.”
Naz nodded his thanks. “Did you hear that? Yeah, we’ll meet you there to observe.”
“What about Tinniel?” I asked Naz as he hung up the phone.
His hesitation stopped him from tearing out of the room. “I can take Synthia if you want to stay here.”
Torn, I glanced at Tinniel. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take him too long to come out of the memory. If Synthia could tell him where we were as soon as he was back, maybe he would join us on the hunt.
“As sweet as it is that you’re ridiculously attached to him already, you need to put your training first. If you want to find your mother, you’ll need experience in the field. Jimmy is nothing compared to the men who want to kill you.”
Tapping a message on his phone, Naz glanced up at me, his expression clear of any jest. He was right. Tinniel had made it very clear that we had to try and find the other bounties. I happened to agree with him.
As hard as it was to push down the attraction that drew me to the sorcerer, I would do it. It was time to step up as a bounty hunter.
“That’s more like it.” A grin split Naz’s face.
Smiling back, I rolled my eyes and turned to Tinniel. However tempting it was to reach out and say goodbye with a touch of a hand, I stopped myself, unsure whether it would jolt him out of his memory spell.
Tucking his phone into his jacket pocket, Naz headed straight for the door, not bothering to wait to see if I followed. I scrambled after him, glancing one last time at Tinniel as the door closed behind me. Would he be safe in the surveillance room alone?
“Synthia is on her way, she’ll keep an eye on him,” Naz called back to me as he headed towards the club, “I’m looking forward to showing you Zac’s skills.”
“You said we were going to observe. Why can’t we get involved?”
My hands shook as adrenaline pulsed from my heart. As hard as it was to admit, I was beginning to love the chase. Even though we wouldn’t get to do much, the idea of catching the bad guy made it impossible not to get excited.
Chewing on his thumbnail, Naz marched past the lift. The numbers above the door rolled down, quickly descending. There were three floors in the building, although I had never been to the top floor. Apparently, that was Klarita’s living quarters.
My mother had refused to bring me to the club, preferring to live in our shoddy social housing. Although she was trying to protect me, there was a huge part of my inner child who resented the woman for not allowing me to have a decent home to live in, especially after seeing how much money she must have been making.
“It’s not that straightforward, I’m sure.” Striding into the club, Naz quickly changed the subject. “We can’t get involved with Zac’s bounty because you need to see the different ways that a bounty hunter works. Your skills are in trac
king. Zac hunts with weapons. You saw it up close when we gate-crashed Jimmy’s party, but this time, you get to watch Zac in action.”
Clenching my teeth, I resisted the urge to punch the twin in the arm. How could he swing from listening to my thoughts, disregarding them, and then talking about bounty hunting as if it was something that most people did every day?
Naz’s cheeks flushed pink as he glanced at me over his shoulder. “Sorry, it’s a habit.”
Synthia met us halfway across the dancefloor. Her hair was ruffled and her eyes wide, the bright blue irises almost twinkling. Either she’d had some good news or someone had brightened her day.
My lip quirked into my cheek as Naz’s gaze snapped to me. “Hurry up,” he told Synthia rather sharply, “he’s on his own.”
Without waiting for a response from the healer woman, Naz stormed away, apparently furious, although I had no idea why. Was it what Synthia was thinking? Or was it my own silly thoughts that had sparked his rage?
Either way, I smiled apologetically at Synthia as she backtracked towards the surveillance room, shrugging and shaking her head. She knew the sorcerer better than I did, maybe she would excuse his rude behaviour.
“Did you have to lose it like that?” I asked the usually jovial twin as we neared the entrance.
“Fuck this,” he muttered, spinning and grabbing my hand as he muttered a rhythmic spell.
The walls around us fizzled, morphing into a busy street, full of cars. The horns honked as people rushed across the road, dodging between the traffic. St Paul’s was always busy, full of tourists visiting the famous cathedral.
Marching ahead, Naz didn’t even stop to wait for me as I caught my breath. He was used to zapping here, there, and everywhere. As for me, my stomach rolled as I propelled forward, trying hard to stay on my feet as my knees wobbled.
The bastard hadn’t even warned me that he was going to flash us to the scene. Why couldn’t he just use a motorbike like a normal person?
“I can still hear your incessant thoughts,” Naz shouted back to me as passers-by frowned, looking between us.
Huffing, I tutted at a woman passing by as she raised her eyebrows at me. “Men. Can you explain to me why they’re so crazy?”
“Lyla!”
Ignoring Naz’s command as he came to a standstill, I waited for the woman to reply. She was older than me by about twenty years, her hair greying down the centre of her parting. Her kind eyes melted into a smile as she looked at the sorcerer who gritted his teeth and stared at me as if I was the actual devil.
“Truth is,” the woman said, “we are just as crazy as they are, dear. Just think… If we didn’t have men, we wouldn’t be able to pass down our incredible gift.”
My eyes stretched open as my gaze travelled to the pendant around her neck. The pentagram was twisted with wire and beads, the bright yellow glass catching the sun.
“You’re…?”
Inclining her head, she winked at me before pointing at Naz. “He’s a powerful one. If he’s your lover, don’t let him go. Many women would crave to have such a man.”
“Oh no…” Almost cringing, I waved my hand towards Naz. “I’m not with him. It’s his brother I’m…”
“Lyla!” Naz spun on his heel and rushed away, quickly getting lost in the crowd.
Oh shit.
“That’s my cue.” Smiling at the woman, I plunged into the people and pushed through them, trying to find the sorcerer. Oops. Seems I had majorly pissed him off.
Even though I had vowed to keep my head in order, I had failed once again. Meeting another witch, who wasn’t a bounty hunter, had startled me. Especially when she had revealed that she knew what I was.
Warmth travelled over my skin as a sense of belonging engulfed me. It had never felt like anyone understood me. Maybe there was a witch meetup I could find.
Naz, I thought. Please wait for me. I’m sorry.
Would he be able to hear me over the constant chatter of all the people around us?
A thick arm suddenly shot out between two people, fingers wrapping around my wrist and tugging me to the side of a building.
“I’m sorry, too.” Naz pointed across the road to where the couple from the CCTV emerged from a shop.
Searching around the area, I tried to spot the bounty who had been following them. Several people milled around, enjoying the view of the cathedral.
“There!” Gesturing to a man who leant against a bus stop, I tugged on Naz’s sleeve.
His gaze shot to the man’s face and narrowed as he slowly nodded. “That’s him. Let’s follow him and see what Zac does.”
“So Zac isn’t going to tell you his plan?”
Chuckling, Naz cut across the swarm of people on the pavement and stepped into the road, trusting that I was close on his heels. Which I was, even though his movement had taken me by surprise.
It was time to clear my head of crazy thoughts and concentrate.
The cars were crawling along, barely moving as we trotted around them, making our way to the other side of the road.
“When we get closer, we must stay quiet. He’s a vampire, he’ll have immaculate hearing. We don’t want him to know that we’re on his tail.”
Throwing Naz a thumbs up, I almost skipped as we picked up our pace. The couple had moved on, their steps hurrying towards the bridge that would take them across the River Thames. The man who stalked the couple pushed away from the bus stop, his hands rubbing together as if they were cold. I knew better. He was hungry and wanted food.
My heartbeat was so loud in my ears, I almost wanted to cover them.
When the couple ducked down a side pathway, the man’s footsteps grew quicker, closing the gap between them.
Naz slowed, his gaze calculating as they disappeared. I went to burst forward, needing to reach the couple before the man could kill them.
Catching my wrist before I had the chance to run, Naz shook his head abruptly, pointing as we reached the entrance to the walkway.
My gaze followed his extended finger, pausing when I caught a movement at a window in the building that lined the walkway. A long black thing – okay, I couldn’t quite see what it was – extended from behind the open crack, aiming towards the people who had rounded the bend and gone under the bridge.
A small puff of smoke expelled from the end of the barrel, alerting me to the discharge of a gun. I hadn’t heard the shot and neither had anyone else.
“Can we…?” I asked Naz, itching to rush and see what had happened.
Holding up a hand, Naz shook his head and watched the window. It was flung open before Zac jumped out and ran under the bridge, disappearing from sight.
“Let’s go.” Taking calculated steps, Naz led me down the sidewalk and around the corner.
Zac was on the ground, wrestling with the vampire as the couple ran away, the man checking behind him every so often.
“Need help?” Naz asked Zac as he came to stand beside the pair.
The vampire spun and sneered at us, his eyes widening when he saw me. “You!”
Bloody hell, not again. Why was it that all the paranormal creatures I’d run into recently had something against me? Except for the lovely witch who had just given me the warmest of smiles.
“Yes,” I drawled. “Me.”
Thrusting away from Zac, the vampire shot to his feet and darted towards me. Naz went to step in front of me, pausing when Zac grappled the vampire’s legs, hauling him to the ground. As the dead creature started to fall, he reached his arm out towards me. The creepy arsehole had longer limbs than I realised.
His stretched out fingers caught my clenched fist as I swung it up to block him, his sharp nails scraping the skin on my knuckles.
Curses flung from my lips as I stepped out of reach, tempted to plough my boot into his nose. Naz had ordered me to stay out of it, I had to listen, even if the vampire had just come for me.
Zac plunged something into the man’s neck, grunting as the needle hissed and exp
elled whatever was in the vial attached to it. The vampire slumped instantly, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and his skull bouncing on the hard concrete ground.
My breath huffed out of me as I dropped my fighting stance and glanced at Naz, who stood with his arms folded across his chest. “Sorry,” he said to Zac. “We should have stayed out of it.”
Puffing, Zac clambered to his feet and dusted down his jacket. His short mousey hair was ruffled, sticking up all over the place. A graze dotted with blood lined his cheek where the vampire had shoved him against the ground.
“Yeah.” Glancing at me, he licked his rapidly swelling lip. “She might end up in danger.”
Clenching my hands into fists, I took a step back and shook my head. “No, I’ll be fine. If you don’t let me work as a bounty hunter, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Bloody hell, it was true. Ever since the twins had found me, my life had meaning. Before my memory had been wiped, I had been lonely and afraid to let anyone in. My mother had stayed closed off to me in order to keep me protected, which I understood. However, I finally felt like I fit in somewhere and there was no way I was going to let anyone stop me from fulfilling my potential. Plus, they needed me. I was kickass when I got it right. Which was becoming more and more often.
“Don’t panic,” Naz said, turning when a group of people rounded the corner under the bridge. “Okay, now panic.”
The humans paused, staring at the man who lay unconscious on the ground. Zac had tied the vampire’s wrists with magically infused metal handcuffs. It wasn’t going to be easy to explain why there was a hulking man currently passed out at our feet. In fact, they would no doubt call the law enforcements.
“It’s okay,” Naz called, taking a black leather wallet out of his jacket and holding it up. “We’re with the police. Please…” Gesturing down the path, he waved them on. “… proceed.”
Yeah, as if they would believe a man dressed in black leathers, flashing an empty cardholder. He looked more like he was in a film, playing a Vin Diesel role. Sexy muscular man rescues the day by capturing the villain who was about to blow up the River Thames… or something along those scripty lines.
The Witch With An Attitude (Federation of Magic Book 2) Page 5